Three inTouch app - drawbacks

NFH

I'm considering moving from giffgaff to Three for three reasons:

1. I want to pay for only what I use, i.e. 1p/MB rather than having to buy more than I need and then waste what I don't use, e.g. 500MB, 1GB etc. There's wifi almost everywhere I go in London now so my mobile data usage can be very low in some months, but is not predictable.
2. Ridiculous roaming charges with giffgaff. For example, in the United States, giffgaff charges £1/min to receive calls and £5/MB for data, whereas Three charges nothing for incoming calls and 3.3p/MB for data (less with an Add-On).
3. No way of receiving calls via wifi, unlike O2's Tu Go or Three's inTouch. This is particularly important in Tube stations and when I'm using a local SIM card abroad. It's a must-have feature for me. It's absurd that, while I can receive calls in Tube stations on my Russian or Spanish mobile numbers, I can't do so on my UK mobile number.

However, I've identified some problems with Three's inTouch app:

• It doesn't have push notifications, meaning you have to remember to open it whenever you have no mobile signal.
• You have to manually select each wifi network on which you want to use it - a totally pointless and unnecessary restriction. When I asked Three about this, they told me "Your device may be prone to unauthorised Wi-Fi zones that may not only your device but your data and I am sure no one would want to loose their invaluable data" [sic]. I still don't understand why this app merits this extra layer of security more than, for example, mobile banking apps. In fact I have over 400 apps on my iPhone and no other app has this restriction.
• Even the latest version released on 11/11/2016 doesn't support CallKit in iOS 10, meaning that incoming calls don't appear as phone calls but as notifications.
• According to Three's support page, "Three inTouch doesn’t work while you’re abroad". However, I'm not sure whether this is correct, because the FAQ about the inTouch app seems to be an erroneous copy-and-paste of most of the FAQ for wi-fi calling, a different technology.

Can anyone give tell me more about inTouch? Does Three really block it when used outside the UK, and if so why? This would defeat the purpose for me.

indesisiv

Not sure about on IOS but on android:

• It does have push notifications.
• As soon as I connect to wifi it connects and takes over messaging.
  Sometimes you don't want it to take over calls and texts? Really only need it where you have no signal. Texts and calls don't use data anyway.
• You only have to authorise new wifi connections, once you have done it once for that connection it will automatically reconnect.
• Wouldn't know about "callkit" if someone rings me it comes through as a phone call and I click answer.
• My understanding is that it doesn't work when abroad. I guess they are trying to make use of the three at home system so no need for wifi??

NFH

indesisiv wrote: »

• As soon as I connect to wifi it connects and takes over messaging.
  Sometimes you don't want it to take over calls and texts? Really only need it where you have no signal. Texts and calls don't use data anyway.
• Wouldn't know about "callkit" if someone rings me it comes through as a phone call and I click answer.

Are you using inTouch wi-fi calling (supported on a number of Android phones) or the inTouch Android app? I'm asking specifically about the latter.

indesisiv wrote: »

• My understanding is that it doesn't work when abroad. I guess they are trying to make use of the three at home system so no need for wifi??

Sorry, I don't quite follow. Why is there any lesser need for calls via wifi when in a Feel At Home country than when in the UK? Yes, one has access to more mobile networks abroad rather than only one network in the UK, but coverage blackspots (e.g. underground) can occur anywhere, not only in the UK. And why deliberately block inTouch when outside the UK? What does this achieve?

indesisiv

NFH wrote: »

Are you using inTouch wi-fi calling (supported on a number of Android phones) or the inTouch Android app? I'm asking specifically about the latter.

I use the android app.

J_B

I have the android app

The call quality was very poor.
The text messages went into a different place to when I was on 3g

I've not used it for about a year or more. (Bag of shy...)

System

I don't know about using wifi abroad but if you take out the 3 sim (for a local sim) then I didn't used to work until you reconnected to 3s mobile data connection again (with a 3 sim)

NFH

Heng_Leng wrote: »

I don't know about using wifi abroad but if you take out the 3 sim (for a local sim) then I didn't used to work until you reconnected to 3s mobile data connection again (with a 3 sim)

That's not the case now. I can use Three's inTouch iPhone app when my giffgaff SIM card is in my iPhone. I can make and receive calls via the app with no problem.

NFH

I've just noticed that at http://www.three.co.uk/discover/three_intouch it says:

If you’ve got a compatible phone, there’s a good chance you’ve already got Three InTouch Wi-Fi Calling. It’s currently available on the LG G5, and the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge. We’ll be rolling it out to plenty more devices in the next few months, including the iPhone 7.

If you don’t have a compatible phone right now, don’t worry. You can still access Three inTouch by downloading the app.

Good news that Three will soon be supporting wi-fi calling on the iPhone. This will solve 3 of the above 4 bullet-pointed drawbacks.